I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 23: Returning to Reality

Translator: 549690339

Song Jian held a Skill Book in his hand, a life skill book called “Alchemy,” which allowed him to make various potions after learning.

Among the materials Song Jian sold, at least two-thirds were potion materials, which is why he chose the life skill “Alchemy” first. Another reason was that the Alchemy Skill Book was relatively cheap.

His gaze locked on the Skill Book, and after selecting “Use,” the book turned into a stream of white light, entering Song Jian’s forehead. The word “Alchemy” appeared in his skill bar.

Alchemy (Active), Level 1, creates corresponding potions using alchemy materials; increases potion-making success rate by 5%. Skill description: The corresponding potion formula must be learned to use this skill.

Song Jian looked at the skill description of Alchemy in his skill bar, and couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Damn it, no wonder this Alchemy skill is so cheap, only a hundred Doomsday Coins, but it’s useless after learning since you still need to collect potion formulas!” Song Jian cursed in his heart, “They could’ve at least given me a beginner’s formula!”

There were, of course, potion formulas in the supermarket, but Song Jian saw that the cheapest one cost a thousand Doomsday Coins. At the time, it didn’t seem like much, but now, it seemed like a huge pitfail.

With only a dozen or so Doomsday Coins left, Song Jian simply spent them all, buying fifty rounds of double-barreled shotgun bullets and three hundred rounds of handgun bullets.

The price of these consumables was quite reasonable, relatively speaking. However, ammo consumption was a long-term drain on resources. Although it didn’t seem like much, Song Jian’s purchase would probably only last him until he leveled up.

“It seems I must learn some cold weapon combat techniques; otherwise, my future limitations will be quite significant,” Song Jian thought to himself.

Song Jian had spent all his Doomsday Coins, and only a few gold bracelets were left in his inventory. He took one last longing look at the supermarket shelves filled with temptation before shaking his head, dispelling any bad thoughts and heading out of the supermarket.

By now, Song Jian’s time in the game was nearly up, with less than half an hour left before he could leave the game. He planned to return to the safe house and wait for the timer to end.

Lying on a bed in one of the villa’s bedrooms, Song Jian looked at the timer on the interface. His expression grew somewhat complicated.

The game was too realistic and immersive, and the fact that items from the game could also be taken out was simply incredible. He had initially planned not to return to the game after leaving, but now he felt some hesitation.

“Well, I’ll decide then,” Song Jian muttered to himself, staring at the timer, his mind filled with thoughts.

As the timer hit zero, a system voice sounded in his ear:

“Your game time is up. Do you want to leave the game? Please make a choice within thirty seconds, or you will continue by default. Your next opportunity to leave the game will be in another twenty-four hours!”

“Leave!” Song Jian made his choice quickly.

A white light appeared before his eyes, growing increasingly dense. Song Jian couldn’t resist closing his eyes, feeling a bout of weightlessness as his body seemed to be suspended and flying rapidly.

Before long, the weightless feeling subsided, and Song Jian slowly opened his eyes. He found himself lying on the bed in his rented room. At that moment, his electronic alarm clock on the bedside table started ringing. He glanced at it, and it was 7:30 in the morning the following day.

“How is this possible? 1 spent a full 24 hours in the game, why… Could it be that the time in the game doesn’t sync with reality?” Song Jian was shocked.

But that was fine since it didn’t interfere with his daytime activities in reality.

“Inventory,” Song Jian thought silently.

After a moment, nothing happened.

Well, that’s awkward!

Song Jian scratched his head and tried the character attribute interface, quest bar, equipment bar… only to find that the game system had completely disappeared in reality, leaving nothing behind. If it weren’t for the fact that his current body retained the same attributes as it had in the game, and he could use all his skills at any time, Song Jian would have thought the entire experience was just a dream.

“What’s going on? Some of the equipment in the game can be brought back to the real world, but now there’s no system or inventory. How am I supposed to take out the equipment?” Song Jian frowned, thinking about the few gold bracelets.

Standing up from the bed, he noticed that his pockets felt heavier, as if there was something inside.

Reaching in, he pulled out a pair of gold bracelets from his jacket pocket, each weighing about thirty grams.

“These are the gold bracelets 1 got in the game!” Song Jian was surprised and, for a moment, didn’t know what to do.

Staring blankly at the gold bracelets, Song Jian was puzzled. He knew that he had at least seven or eight pairs of gold bracelets in his inventory, but now only one pair appeared.

Song Jian quickly searched all his pockets, even considering stripping naked to check, but he only found the one pair of gold bracelets.

Suddenly, a thought crossed Song Jian’s mind: he remembered that the inventory had sixteen slots, fifteen with gray borders and one with a golden border. Inside the golden-bordered slot was a pair of gold bracelets, which seemed to be identical to the pair he held.

Could it be that only items in the golden-bordered slot can be taken out of the game with the “Take Out of Game” property?” Song Jian speculated. If so, he could only take out one item each time he entered the game. This made him somewhat disappointed.

What disappointed Song Jian even more was that, in the real world, he couldn’t summon the game system, and therefore couldn’t bring items from reality into the game. If he could bring real-world items into the game, the difficulty of the game would undoubtedly be significantly reduced.

Jumping off the bed, Song Jian suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Lifting his shirt, he saw three red marks more than half a foot long on his left shoulder, as if he had been scratched by something.

“This is where I got hurt in the game!” Song Jian was shocked. It turned out that injuries sustained in the game really did affect the real world.

Song Jian knew that dying in the game meant being erased in reality. He did not expect, however, that even injuries sustained in the game would carry over into the real world. Song Jian’s heart sank, and he felt a sense of panic.

Looking at the Doomsday City game icon on his phone, which had turned gray, Song Jian hesitated and struggled with whether he should continue playing.